By Jeff Floyd
Certified horticulturist and arborist
Valentine’s Day is a key date on the calendar for gardening projects. Chief among them is applying pre-emergent weed control. Miss this date and you may find yourself battling more weeds the old-fashioned way this year; hand pulling. Worse still, you may discover that excessive applications of herbicides are needed to tame your yard. But before you apply any herbicide, read the label.
How are pre-emergents applied? Start with the label. Manufacturers spend millions of dollars meeting EPA labeling requirements before they are allowed to bring a product to consumers. When following directions carefully, you can generally count on good weed control. Granular pre-emergents tend to be the most practical way for homeowners to control weeds. This is because most of us have access to a fertilizer spreader.
Before you begin, you’ll want to water the lawn a day or two ahead of time. A wet soil encourages weeds to sprout. As strange as it may seem, weeds need to pop up before herbicides can do their work. Pre-emergents are designed to kill cells as they begin to grow; not before.
The label will explain how much product to apply. Many labels include proper settings for popular brand spreaders and how much water to apply after you’ve put down the product. Labels will describe what kind of weeds the product can control. Grassy weeds are not always controlled by the same herbicides that stop broadleaf weeds. Advice on application timing and whether additional applications may be necessary will be found on the label.
Labels often warn against applying products prior to an expected rain. Heavy precipitation or excessive irrigation increases the risk of runoff. Allowing your weed killer to get washed off the lawn right after putting it down is a waste of money and effort. You’ll want to be the one in control of the amount of water used to activate the weed killer.
Weed control isn’t complicated if your planning includes carefully reading and following label directions. Following label instructions will also help keep your family and pets safe while ensuring the best possible weed control.
